Ring of the comet

This ring appears to be nothing more than a valuable piece of jewelry. The band is a magically enhanced platinum alloy, and a large, perfectly cut emerald is set in the band. These elements alone give the ring a value in excess of 3,000 gold pieces in an open market. It is worth far more than that due to its powerful enchantment.

The ring is of particular value to spacefarers because it has the ability to summon a comet steed. Comet steeds are rare space-mounts that have the ability to travel at spelljamming speed. The ring, when found, will have 4-16 charges (4d4). Each use, regardless if successful, permanently drains one charge from the item. It cannot, by any means short of a wish, be recharged. Once the item's charges have been depleted, it
is non-functional (but the owner still has a very beautiful, very valuable ring).

A charge is expended any time the user attempts to summon a comet steed. First, the DM should determine if a comet steed is available in the area. If the DM would like to determine randomly, assume a 30% chance of a steed being available. The comet steed gets a saving throw versus magic. If it fails, then it must travel to the summoner post-haste (which is fast for a horse that can spelljam!).

A summoned comet steed must serve the owner of the ring unless he or she is evil. A comet steed will never serve an evil character. The steed will serve the summoner for one mission and then it will depart. The DM has final discretion as to what constitutes a mission, but in any case, the length of servitude will not exceed one month. The comet steed will not risk its life for the summoner.

The origin of the item is unknown. Most likely, it was created by spacefaring wizards for groundlings who would not know how to engage the assistance of the comet steed (or perhaps not even know of the existence of comet steeds!).

It is not known how many of these rings exist, but there are certainly more than one and probably several dozen. The arcane have been known to have the rings available for sale or
trade, as is their way.